The Origins of the English Novel, 1600-1740, combines historical analysis and readings of extraordinarily diverse texts to reconceive the foundations of the dominant genre of the modern era. Now, on the fifteenth anniversary of its initial publication, The Origins of the English Novel stands as essential reading. The anniversary edition features a new introduction in which the author reflects on the considerable response and commentary the book has attracted since its publication by describing dialectical method and by applying it to early modern notions of gender. Challenging prevailing theories that tie the origins of the novel to the ascendancy of "realism" and the "middle class," McKeon argues that this new genre arose in response to the profound instability of literary and social categories. Between 1600 and 1740, momentous changes took place in European attitudes toward truth in narrative and toward virtue in the individual and the social order. The novel emerged, McKeon contends, as a cultural instrument designed to engage the epistemological and social crises of the age.

作者米歇尔•麦基恩（Michael McKeon），美国罗格斯大学（Rutgers University）英文系教授，校学术委员会成员，著有三本英国研究领域跨学科专著，即《英国复辟时期的政治与诗歌》（Politics and Poetry in Restoration England）、《英国小说的起源》（The Origins of the English Novel）以及《家庭生活秘史》（The Secret History of Domesticity），同时编撰《小说理论：历史研究方式》（Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach）。他是两届美国现代语言协会（MLA）执行委员会成员以及MLA英国研究会指导委员会成员，当今18世纪英国研究领域权威。

译者胡振明，江西省南昌市人，北京大学英语语言文学博士，对外经济贸易大学英语学院副教授。专业研究领域为18世纪英国小说，在《外国文学研究》、《国外文学》等国内核心学术期刊发表论文多篇，出版学术专著《对话中的道德建构——十八世纪英国小说中的对话性》，并主持国家社会科学基金“18世纪英国小说与文学公共领域的建构研究”。